Broken
by Kisshu4eva
Summary: After Deep Blue died and the aliens formed a truce, Taruto still can't leave Pudding alone. So when one of his games goes wrong and Pudding is hurt, he has to look after her. As their relationship blossoms, the arrival of an old face threatenes to destroy that peace. Will their love really be enough to break her engagement and survive her father's wrath? Taruto/Pudding
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Thanks for taking the time to read this, it's my first ever Taruto/Pudding fic, such a cute pairing hope you enjoy! In this story both Pudding and Taruto are 10 years old. **

"Taru-Taru NOT NOW!" yelled Pudding, plaits fluttering about her face. Trust Taruto to pick the one time to attack she was actually in a hurry to pick up Heicha. It wasn't even like he had a good reason; Deep Blue was dead and an alliance between the aliens and the mews had been formed, it was purely for his entertainment. "I know Taru-Taru just wants to play as friends really, but not now!

"Shut up!" he yelled "Why do think I always want to be friends?! You're so annoying!" His pale legs kicked in frustration. She couldn't help but giggle at him; it was cute when he was trying to act macho and older than his age.

"Oh Taru-taru, you're so transparent Na no da!" she trilled in her high voice. A tomato blush spread across his cheeks.

"I said SHUT UP!" he yelled again. She recoiled a bit, stung by the comment, but tried not to show it. Oh well, she didn't have time to mess around with Taruto right now anyway.

"Whatever, Pudding has to go now Na no da!"

"I don't think so!" he flew into her path, arms outstretched. "I promised I'd see you cry, and that's just what I'm going to do!" he withdrew a parasite from out of nowhere, and a spirit he must have extracted earlier, and threw both in the air. "FUSION!"

There was a flash of blinding white light and a gust of wind swept over them both, causing his pigtails to fly upwards, like his arms.

'_I really don't have time…' _she thought, a sliver of worry slicing through her mind… Whilst he was focused on the forming chimera anima, she darted beneath his arm and took off running. He gasped in outrage as she flashed past and then growled in frustration. "Go, chimera Aranea!" the familiar phrase rang out behind her. What had he conjured up this time? Risking a small glance backwards, she had to keep herself from spluttering with laughter.

A massive spider. Probably twice the height of Zakuro, with massive jaws and red eyes. How predictable. Did he not realize by now that a tom-boy like her, who had spent years cleaning out spiders from sinks when Heicha and even her brothers were too scared, was never going to cry at a spider?

"Spiders don't scare Pudding No no da!" she called cheerily, a small grin spreading across her face. THAT annoyed him. In fact, the colour he was going, she wouldn't be surprised if smoke began pouring out of his ears. He began shouting:

"Be quiet, you're such an immature little kid!"

"So are you!"

"I'm older by two months!"

"But I'm still a little bit taller!"

"Shut UP!"

"MAKE me!" She kept a good running pace and managed to stay ahead of the spider and Taruto almost all the way to the nursery. By the time they got there, she was panting and definitely getting a painful blister on her heel. The sun glinted off her golden mew outfit, and her ears flicked as Taruto, spider in tow, rounded the bend. Realizing he really wasn't going to stop, she sighed. It had already scared multiple people and crashed into several cars and an unfortunate shed, she had better stop it before it hit the nursery. She lashed her tail in frustration-everything would be ruined if Heicha or the day-care staff saw her as a mew.

"Ribbon, Pudding ring, inferno!" she yelled. The golden ring jingled merrily and the attack barrelled towards the massive arachnid, however it quickly climbed the side of a building until it was out of sight and her attack missed. How was it people never noticed when massive animals ripped up streets or crawled over their houses?

She glanced around in confusion. She could see neither the chimera anima nor Taruto. The street was completely silent, unnervingly so, like the calm before the storm. She let out a strangled yelp as something wiry, like rope, suddenly whipped out and wrapped tightly around her ankle. Her feet were yanked out from under her and she toppled to the road. There was a dizzying moment of terror as her stomach dropped beneath her, like when you walk up the stairs and forget the last step. The pavement rose up to meet her as she painfully smacked her chin, blood beginning to stream from her nose.

'_I really hope Heicha doesn't see me…' _her head twisted as she desperately looked for ways out of the web. Her eyes went red and watery as pain radiated from her nose, temporarily stunning her. The spider had emerged and began to drag her towards it across the road. The rough web had moved further up, wrapping around her up to her waist. She couldn't move, and no matter how much she wriggled and fought, the rope didn't break. The other mews would have no idea this was going on, so she couldn't expect much help from them.

"Scared yet?" questioned Taruto, calmly observing, sitting cross-legged in the air beside the spider.

"Not enough to cry!" her voice was a lot bolder than she really felt. Actually those jaws were quite scary that close to her face, and they were only getting closer. They were directly above her face, opening wide in anticipation of savaging her skin. Fear gripped her: the last sight she would ever see would be those soulless red eyes, never having a chance to say goodbye to her brothers or sister. She was like a fly caught in a trap, paralyzed and helpless as she waited for the jaws of death to inexorably close around her, ripping her life away. Closing her eyes and bracing herself for the pain, she let out a scared cry.

"Wait, chimera Aranea, stop!" she started in surprise at the sound of his voice. She was suddenly scooped off the ground just as the massive jaws closed, snapping shut on thin air. The clack as they closed on nothingness was shockingly loud. The air whooshed past as they flew through the air; Taru-taru was carrying her!

"T-taru Taru?" she asked in a bewildered voice, head cocked to the side in confusion as he put her down on the flat roof of a building.

"DON'T call me that…" he growled.

"You saved me!" Her voice rose happily "I _knew_ you wanted to be friends Taruto!"

"Shut _up! _I just…haven't seen you cry yet!" the words sounded false on his lips. She grinned at him, and even though he spat his tongue out at her childishly, she could tell it had made him smile.

However, the massive spider hadn't given up on its meal yet, and was obviously well beyond Taruto's control. With an angry hiss, it lunged for them. There wasn't enough time for Taruto to stop it, and Pudding was still tied from the waist below. She did the only move possible. She threw herself onto her back, partially winded as the air rushed from her lungs, and kicked out at Taruto as strongly as possibly. It worked as planned, he flew back out of the spiders range, but her leg was less fortunate.

As she drew her legs away, one of the spiders trailing legs caught her right ankle and twisted it awkwardly. She could practically hear the tendons in her leg snap. She yelled out in pain, clenching her teeth together to prevent her from screaming. Flowers of pain blossomed in her foot, and shifting it to put any weight on it caused a wave of agony to flood up her shin.

"Pudding!" Taruto gasped. He was floating in the air again having corrected his balance, and was looking at her leg in horror. Was it that bad? She hardly dared look. His attention snapped back to the spider which had smacked into a building on the other side of the roof. He gained altitude, withdrawing his toy/weapon.

"Ho Rai Den!" he shouted. The click-clack toy spun through the air towards the beast, wrapping itself around 4 of its legs. Pulled off balance, it staggered to the ground and rolled onto its back. Seizing the chance, he quickly re-extracted the spirit, gently setting it free. It lingered a moment, before shooting off with purpose in the opposite direction, returning to its body.

Pudding let out an exhausted breath. Blood still poured from her nose. Taruto shot down from the sky, skidding to a halt beside her. He quickly tore off the last of the web

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah," she smiled, but it was more like a grimace. He leaned down, gently placing his hand on her ankle.

"Tell me when it starts to hurt," he began apply pressure to the wound. Almost immediately the pain worsened, and she yelled out, kicking the ground with her good foot and clenching her hands into fists.

"Sorry!" he winced. Suddenly Pudding realized herself very angry; there was no way she could walk on this leg. How was she meant to work, be a mew, and run around after her siblings now? Probably several weeks as an invalid, for nothing.

"This is all your fault! I only wanted to pick up Heicha! You're so mean and obsessed na no da!" He looked down in embarrassment.

"Sorry…"he mumbled. She couldn't help but grin at his sheepishness.

"Well, you had better help me now. Take me to the café, I can get cleaned up and ask Heicha's teacher to drop her off home," He sighed childishly, and then roughly grabbed her beneath the arms. They teleported quickly, to the café. The evening sun had almost set and the café had just closed; everyone would still be inside.

They dropped to the ground, her ankle bumping along the rough pavement. She yelped again. He quickly slipped an arm around her shoulders, holding her up. His skin was quite cold, probably because he insisted on wearing such skimpy, flappy clothes, and he was very thin and wiry, but somehow was strong enough to help her through the door.

They staggered into the café, just as Ichigo was walking past. She gasped when she saw them, dropping the plate she was carrying to the floor. That was when chaos ensued.

**Thanks for reading guys, PLEASE review, they make me keep writing :D Hopefully I'll update soon.**

**~Kisshu4eva~**


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHORS NOTE**

Sorry everyone, I know these are annoying so I'll keep it brief. I'm really sorry it's taken me so long to update-over three months! I had almost completed chapter two and begun chapter three, but my computer crashed and I lost both, which was about five pages and a 2500 word document It doesn't help that I'm also in the process of writing 3 other stories. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and beg for both forgiveness and patience while I start the re-write. Thanks so much for all the lovely reviews-it's really restored my confidence and made me want to continue, love you all! xxx


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Me again! Firstly, I'm so sorry for making anyone that still reads this story wait so long, I've had exams and computer malfunctions and zombie attacks…well, not the last one, but there's no excuse for being so bad at updating, I promise not to take as long updating next time!**

**Long chappie this one, not sure how good it is as there's a lot of dialogue, but here's some things you should know to help it make more sense:**

**In Japan it's an old superstition that if a person has a nosebleed, it means they are having perverted thoughts**

'**Ohayo' means hello in Japanese.**

**I hate Ryou and make lots of the characters take the mick out of him in this- sorry Shirogane fans!**

**Cookies to recklessyyouth especially as my first reviewer and for being so kind, as well as Memow, Fred and George Weasley Twins, Daily Sinner, Pizza lover 86, Pokeluv101, Mew Ichigo14 and Tweety00 – love you all!**

**Hope you enjoy reading, assuming anyone still reads this!**

**~Kisshu4eva~**

"Ahh, Pudding!" Ichigo yelled, taking in the sight of the blood on her face. She dashed over in a flurry, dropping the plate she was holding onto the floor with an ear-splitting crash. "Stay with me Pudding, you're too young to die!" she grabbed Pudding's face and stared directly into her eyes.

"Um, Ichigo-"

"Don't go towards the light!"

"I'm fine Ichigo, really…"Pudding began, but Ichigo wasn't listening, desperately telling Pudding that she wasn't allowed to die and leave her to do all the work in the café alone.

"She isn't dying, you stupid old woman!" Taruto yelled. Ichigo jumped backwards, as if seeing Taruto for the first time, and finally realising that Pudding wasn't about to die from a nosebleed. Taruto kept his supporting arm wrapped under Pudding's shoulder and glared at Ichigo whilst Pudding tried to stem the flow of blood from her nose. The red-head stared, trying to work through her confusion ad understand what was going on. Sadly though, Ichigo then drew a new, entirely wrong conclusion from the appearance of the situation.

"How Pudding? How did you end up this bad? And why is Taruto?..." She broke off, eyes widening in horrifying understanding.

"Oh no…"Taruto muttered, bracing himself.

"Oh my god! Minto, come look! TARUTO AND PUDDING GOT TOGETHER!" She yelled backwards.

"WHAT?!" Taruto and Pudding both exclaimed at the same time.

'_How did she draw THAT conclusion from this situation?' _Pudding wondered in her head.

"Look, he's got his arm wrapped around her! How cute! But really Pudding, you're both too young to be doing anything, let alone getting NOSEBLEEDS! **NOSEBLEEDS! **Really Pudding, I didn't think you were the type to have perverted thoughts. Oh well, you make such an adorable couple! I knew this would happen sooner or later, Taruto is _clearly_ obsessed-must be an alien thing, " Taruto made an indignant sound, a scarlet blush rising in his cheeks. "But still, NOSEBLEEDS!" Ichigo continued to rant, even though no one could really make out what she was saying- her mouth moved so quickly!

"Shut UP, you old hag!" Taruto roared, still blushing deeply. Ichigo turned to glare at him, before dashing off into the kitchen yelling for Lettuce, Keichiro and Minto.

"She's almost as bad as you," Taruto muttered into the monkey mew's ear. Pudding couldn't help but stifle a giggle; much as she loved Ichigo, she was prone to overreacting. Lettuce came dashing around the corner in a flurry, Keichiro and Ichigo in tow. Upon seeing the sight before her, she too dropped the plate she was holding, causing Pudding to wince at the sound.

"Pudding, are you ok?" She asked worriedly, tilting her face to look up her nose.

"I'm fine Lettuce, it's my foot mainly," Pudding tried her utmost to smile convincingly, but it twisted into a pain-ridden grimace. Keichiro pulled up a chair behind her, gently nudging it against her knees until she sat down. Taruto released his hold on her, instead crossing his legs and hovering above nervously, refusing to leave Pudding. The simple gesture made a warm feeling spread inside Pudding's chest.

"Lettuce, fetch some ice, will you?"

"Yes Keichiro!" Lettuce called out determinedly, running in the direction of the kitchen without looking where she was going. It wasn't long before they heard the clattering sound of Lettuce colliding with a table.

"You ok Lettuce?"

"I'm fine! Sorry!" she yelled "Ow, my knee…" they heard her cursing as she went off. The remaining four collectively cringed as Lettuce began banging around in the kitchen, shattering things and apologizing frequently.

"What's going on?" Mint had emerged from her tranquil sunlit corner of the café and descended into the commencing madness, fine bone-china teacup elegantly held in one hand.

"MINTO! Taruto and Pudding got together! Look how obsessed he is! He even had his ARM around her a minute ago! And Pudding has nosebleeds! And her foot hurts, they've been getting rough! I never thought Pudding would get a boyfriend! Who would have thought Pudding would have pervy thoughts? I think it must just be an alien thing…" Ichigo narrowed her eyes, clearly thinking of Kish. "Min…to?"

Mint had remained totally still and silent as a statue throughout the entire ordeal, even as Ichigo had continued to flap about the room. Everyone in the cafe waited with bated breath to see her reaction. Minto slowly placed her tea on the adjacent table, the eyes of the entire room transfixed upon her slightest movement. And then she began to laugh.

Not the snobbish laugh she normally used, or the polite, restrained laugh of an educated girl. A proper laugh, snorting and bending over. Ichigo stood stock-still, mouth open in shock.

"Ichigo, you are literally the most stupid person I've ever met! Ever heard of superstition? Of course nosebleeds don't mean a person is having perverted thoughts! I suppose this is all that can expected of those with a state education," She smirked, and so did Taruto looking at the outraged expression on Ichigo face. Before Ichigo could restart her rant however, Lettuce rounded the corner, ice held in one hand, panting heavily

"I…found it! Found the…ice!" she puffed, staggering over.

"Thanks Lettuce!" Keichiro nodded. A grin etched slowly across his face-it was obvious he was trying his best not to laugh. "Umm, Lettuce? Your face is swelling; I think the kitchen cupboards may have landed a couple of blows before you defeated them."

Lettuce turned an amazing shade of beetroot, before being ushered into a chair by Minto, who pressed another ice pack to her face.

"One thing I don't understand is _how_ Pudding ended up in such a state," Minto mused aloud. Everyone turned to stare at Taruto, who, to Pudding's delight, also turned red and looked sheepish.

'_He deserves it! My ankle is KILLING me!' _ It was true; the pain in her ankle had grown from a dull throb to an agonizing stab. The ice helped, but she couldn't help but yelp as Keichiro gently applied pressure. With every yelp, she could see Taruto's head duck lower, and waves of shame rolled over her. Everyone was going to hate the alien now. While it was the unavoidable truth that this was ALL his fault, the last thing anyone wanted was for the truce with the aliens to end.

"I…I…" Taruto began to stutter. Before he had a chance to speak, there was an almighty thundering of boots rounding the corner that they all knew meant only one thing. Ryou. And he was angry.

"What the hell is going on?!" He yelled. Taruto flinched at the harsh noise grating against his ears and made a high pitched noise that sounded something like 'meep'. Pudding snorted at the sound. Big mistake. Ryou turned to her.

"What's wrong with Pudding?"

"Ask him," Keichiro mumbled mildly, point at Taruto. The blonde's eyes narrowed in fury as he took in Taruto's presence- besides from Kish, Taruto was probably the alien he hated most.

"I can explain-"Taruto began, but it was too late, Ryou had already made a lunge for him.

"I'll FLAY you, pipsqueak!" His fingers closed on thin air as the undersized boy shot about three feet up, pressing himself flat against the ceiling.

"I only wanted to see her cry! I didn't mean to hurt her, or anyone else, and I didn't! Well, not really, anyway. And…I'm sorry, alright!" he yelled down at him.

"I forgive you Taru-taru!" Pudding called out jovially, grinning at his scowl, pain temporarily forgotten. There was an audible 'awww…' and various cooing noises made by all the girls, and of course Keichiro. Ryou was less easily appeased.

"The truce is over! Look how badly Pudding is hurt! I think we can be fairly sure you didn't act alone, either!" Ryou was going way over the top, gesturing wildly in a fashion almost similar to Ichigo. Pudding frowned fearfully: this was exactly the scenario she had feared.

"Calm your tits, Ryou. I think he was just trying a prank that went wrong. He's paying for it already, I don't there's any need for another war," Ichigo jutted her chin out at Shirogane defiantly; despite her many faults, she was always the first to defend her friends.

"Shut up Ichigo, get back to stalking Aoyama. And you can forget your wages for this week for rudeness!"

"Aww, Shirogane-SAN! You're so mean to me!" She wailed. Ryou had ignored her and turned away to rant at Tart again, but a rebellious gleam shone through Ichigo's eyes. In a high, teasing voice, she trilled

"Someone's on their man period!"

Ryou froze.

Everything was silent.

Every jaw dropped.

Ryou turned around.

'_She's done for!' _Pudding thought grimly. She closed her eyes and braced for another earth-shaking screaming match. None came. Instead came the most unexpected, snide voice she could have anticipated to hear.

"Ohayo, Ichigo!" Kish trilled, materialising out of mid-air randomly. For about the third time in 5 minutes, everyone gawped. Kish surveyed the scene, taking in the injuries of Lettuce and Pudding, the over-turned tables from Lettuce's clumsiness, and Ryou's enraged, purple face. His bright yellow eyes shone naughtily, one fang peeping out over the corner of his mouth, pulled as usual into his signature cocky grin. "Jeez runt, I'm impressed, taking two of the mews down at once. If only you could have damaged the mews like this when we were actually fighting them," He sneered at Tart, still pressed against the ceiling.

"What are you doing here, Kisshu?" Ichigo asked scathingly.

"Saving you from the blonde Barbie of course!" he was obviously referencing Ryou. "Ichigo darling, did you miss me?" He glided in, sliding his arms around her and trying to kiss her on the cheek.

"Get OFF, Kish!" She squeaked, squirming about, although the blush rising in her cheeks gave away how much she was really enjoying it.

"Pai will be here soon to smooth all this over. Really I just came along for the fun," He winked at Ichigo and the other mews. "The runt really screwed up didn't he? I mean, it's up to him to choose how to obsess over the weird monkey child, but he must have done something pretty bad to piss off the blonde transvestite like this." Kish grinned at Ryou, whose hands clenched into tight fists.

"No more games, Kisshu. Was Taruto acting alone? And how are you going to make him pay? Oh, and I'll thank you kindly to not harass my employees, thank you."

"Oh, go whine to your boyfriend. Taruto was just mucking around. The runt'll pay; just you wait till Pai gets here!"

"I'm not a RUNT!" Taruto screamed, shooting towards Kish, only to be grabbed in mid-air by the scruff. His scrawny body jack-knifed upright and he was swung forcibly away from Kisshu.

"No, but you are immature," Pai murmured. He looked unflappable as ever, maybe even slightly bored. His cold grey eyes were steely and as forgiving as shards of ice. They swung across the room, lingering on Lettuce for just a second longer than everyone else. His gaze eventually found Ryou's. "Taruto will be made to pay for his actions. I suspect at a first glance that Pudding has sustained only a nasty sprain, and a broken nose. Our people can offer better healing than available on this planet, and Taruto will be made to spend the requisite time in which she recovers on earth, assisting Pudding and the mews in any way he can, as is in keeping with the traditions of the Cyniclon. Are we clear?" His low voice cut straight across the room towards Ryou.

"Yes, Pai. See that this doesn't happen again," he replied in an equally unfriendly tone, the hate in his voice veiled only thinly. The silence seemed to stretch on for all eternity. It occurred to Pudding what an odd sight it must be, four mews, three aliens and two men all standing in the café dining room together.

"Well, get back to work," Ryou snapped. Minto, Ichigo and Keichiro all vanished, followed eventually by Ryou, who patted Pudding sympathetically on the head whilst exiting. Pudding breathed an audible sigh of relief. The aliens always brought such trouble into her life. And yet, she realised with a shock, she wouldn't trade it for the world.

Pai slowly released his hold on Taruto. "Thanks weakling, it's not like other people have things to be doing today," The tall alien huffed, relaxing at the lack of the presence of the others.

"Whatever," Tart grumbled. "What happens now?"

"Well, I'm making myself scarce before that wolf mew shows up, she _scares _me" Kish shuddered, dematerialising.

"Lettuce," Pai strode over to her. She sat where she was, still clutching ice to her head. Not even that could hide the heat that rose in her cheeks.

"P-Pai San?" She said shyly.

"The same treatment we offered to Pudding is available to you as well, should you wish I can take you to our planet and heal your head," He extended his hand to her. Lettuce hesitated, and for perhaps the first time since anyone could remember, Pai looked almost nervous. Then she smiled and took his hand.

"Thank you Pai," She whispered, standing up. Watching from the side-lines, Taruto began to wolf whistle.

"Pai's got a _girlfriend, _Pai's got a-"He broke off abruptly at the violent glare he received from the purple-haired man, full of such menace it sliced quicker than any knife.

"Go Lettuce!" Pudding yelled as the two disappeared into the other dimension. She barely caught sight of Lettuce's grin before they were gone, and she was left alone with Tart.

He sighed. "Well, I guess we should get going," He wrapped his arm around her and lifted her off the floor. She shivered slightly at the coolness of his ivory skin. She could feel the lean muscle in his arm, feel the closeness of his body, and was suddenly hyperaware of all the flesh he had on show. An uncontrollable urge to wrap her arms around his waist, pull him into a hug and run her fingers across his midriff over-took her. She shook her head to clear the thought. That was weird, she'd never experienced anything like that before. _'What was that?' _She pondered.

"Earth to Pudding!" Taruto yelled. She snapped her focus back to him. "Where to first? I can either heal you at home, or we can stop off at your house, or…" he trailed off, leaving the options to her.

"I need to collect Heicha first from nursery na no da," Pudding said decisively. Taruto groaned.

"Not Heicha, she HATES me!" He cried.

"Come on Taru-taru! Heicha loves to play with Tart and Pudding together! Not like you have a choice anyway na no da!" She trilled. Taruto fell very quiet as they flew out the door.

"Pudding, I am…I mean…I didn't mean to hurt you. Please forgive me," He mumbled, looking down in shame.

Pudding grinned, and it was like sunshine emerging from behind the clouds.

"I forgive Taru-taru! See, you are my friend!"

"MY NAME IS NOT- oh, never mind. You're so strange," He grumbled, but the smile in his voice was evident. They flew off together, towards the nursery, neither aware of what was forming between them.

**Phew! That took forever! Hope you enjoyed, I will have chapter three up very soon! I was very rude about Ryou in this, I've just realised. I've never felt so mean :3 oh well! Anyway, thanks for reading, please review because it keeps me going! **

**Bye! **

**~Kisshu4eva~**


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